particle
a minute portion, piece, fragment, or amount; a tiny or very small bit: a particle of dust; not a particle of supporting evidence.
Physics.
one of the extremely small constituents of matter, as an atom or nucleus.
an elementary particle, quark, or gluon.
a body in which the internal motion is negligible.
a clause or article, as of a document.
Grammar.
(in some languages) one of the major form classes, or parts of speech, consisting of words that are neither nouns nor verbs, or of all uninflected words, or the like.
such a word.
a small word of functional or relational use, as an article, preposition, or conjunction, whether of a separate form class or not.
Roman Catholic Church. a small piece of the Host given to each lay communicant in a Eucharistic service.
Origin of particle
1Other words for particle
Other words from particle
- par·ti·cled, adjective
- in·ter·par·ti·cle, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use particle in a sentence
Unlike influenza, it is incapable of traveling through tiny microscopic particles.
Furthermore, a person with norovirus has about 70 billion viral particles per gram of stool.
A Doctor Explains Why Cruise Ships Should Be Banned | Kent Sepkowitz | November 19, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTInstead, dark matter is its own antimatter, so any pair of particles that meet will destroy each other.
Still No Dark Matter from Space Station Experiment | Matthew R. Francis | September 21, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThat shows the magnetic field at work protecting us from these highly energetic particles.
Louis B. Jones is the author of the novels Ordinary Money, Particles and Luck, and California's Over.
Don Carpenter Was a Novelist Both Lacerating and Forgiving | Louis B. Jones | July 14, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Beginners must be warned against mistaking the edges of cells, or particles which have retained the red stain, for bacilli.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis | James Campbell ToddCaseous particles containing immense numbers of the bacilli are common.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis | James Campbell ToddShould the fluid contain food-particles, it is probably the result of retention, not hypersecretion.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis | James Campbell ToddThe extent to which digestion has taken place can be roughly judged from the appearance of the food-particles.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis | James Campbell ToddWhat appears to be ground glass is only the little crystals or small particles of alkali that have not been dissolved.
Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce | E. R. Billings.
British Dictionary definitions for particle
/ (ˈpɑːtɪkəl) /
an extremely small piece of matter; speck
a very tiny amount; iota: it doesn't make a particle of difference
a function word, esp (in certain languages) a word belonging to an uninflected class having suprasegmental or grammatical function: the Greek particles ``mēn'' and ``de'' are used to express contrast; questions in Japanese are indicated by the particle ``ka''; English ``up'' is sometimes regarded as an adverbial particle
a common affix, such as re-, un-, or -ness
physics a body with finite mass that can be treated as having negligible size, and internal structure
RC Church a small piece broken off from the Host at Mass
archaic a section or clause of a document
Origin of particle
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for particle
[ pär′tĭ-kəl ]
A very small piece of solid matter.
An elementary particle, subatomic particle, or atomic nucleus. Also called corpuscle
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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